.jpg "Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman speaks during a forum on conflict of interest in Kuala Lumpur February 21, 2019. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Choo Choy May")
PUTRAJAYA, March 1 — The Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) is optimistic e-sports could deliver three medals from six events in the 2019 Manila SEA Games at the end of the year.
Its minister, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said Malaysia has world standard e-sports players with the potential to the rake in gold medals in Tekken 7, Starcraft and DOTA 2 categories.
He said KBS would be cooperating with Esports Malaysia (ESM) to call on all players involved to prepare for the SEA Games.
“We will be calling on them (top e-sports players) as this is the first time, it is competed in the SEA Games, I am confident they will be willing to serve.
“We want to highlight that they are competing for the country while promoting the e-sports industry in Malaysia so that e-sports would not be viewed negatively,” he said.
He was speaking at the handing over of the national flag to e-sports player, Muhamad Luqman Haziq Hajiman to the FIfa World e-Cup qualification in Singapore this month.
Apart from DOTA 2, Starcraft and Tekken 7, three more e-sports to be competed in Manila are Arena of Valor (AoV), Mobile Legends and NBA 2019.
On the absence of Fifa e-sports in SEA Games, Syed Saddiq said the video game should be competed in the following SEA Games.
“Fifa is a popular video game in the world. Maybe not in Manila but in the other coming SEA Games, it should be included not as a demo sport but as a medal offering event,” he said.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Luqman who is known as Fenrir is the sole representative from Malaysia and South-east Asia to take on the challenge at Fifa eWorld Cup championship.
Fenrir said the support of KBS has certainly boosted his spirit and he would not let this opportunity go to waste. — Bernama
